August in the Midwest is usually the “dog days of summer” — hot, intense sun, and humid.  It is uncomfortable and physically draining.  But we have had some unusual weather this past week — cool and rainy. Three solid days of rain, in fact, in a time of year that we don’t expect it.

So, as a result, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on rainy days, how they represent other aspects of our lives, and what we can learn from them.

We are not in control of everything. There are obviously aspects of our lives that we do not control. Weather is one. Global economic forces is another. Random events of nature and the choices that others make are two others. Rainy days can help remind us of this reality.

Learning to flex with changes in circumstances is healthy. When circumstances change in our lives, we have a choice of how to respond. We can complain, get angry and frustrated. Or we can say — “okay, what do we do now?” and develop a replacement plan.

“Rainy days” (and other circumstances) give us an opportunity to slow down and rest. Many of us live at a fast pace, even overbooked. Rainy days, canceled appointments, and other events that disrupt our schedules can “force” us to slow down. And for some reason (I think it has to do with barometric pressure) rainy days are great for taking naps. Sometimes it may be better to slow down and enjoy the interruption, rather than scurry around and try to repack your schedule.

“Saving for a rainy day” is a wise thing to do. The adage that we should “save for a rainy day” came from the time when people were largely living hand-to-mouth, getting paid for a day’s work at the end of the day. However, if it was raining, they would not be needed in the fields to work; so they would not earn any money — which was often needed for food for the following day. The same principle can occur in today’s economy. Work to be done, sales orders, accounts receivable — can all go away. And if you or your business is living close to the edge, the loss of income can put you at risk. It’s best to not spend (or even reinvest) all of your income, assuming it will always be there; rather, save some for your life’s version of a rainy day.

Use the time and space to do other things that need to be done — specifically, maintenance and clean up. I remember when growing up that rainy (or cold, icy) days were a great time to go downstairs to the basement in our “working area” (where we had tools and wood projects) and clean it up. Similarly, when we have breaks in our schedule, it can be an opportunity to do some cleaning or maintenance activities (filing, lower priority emails, reading through the pile of professional magazines on your credenza) that we usually don’t get to.

If none of these responses fit, maybe you should just go outside and play in the rain. Experience it. Enjoy it. And leave the work for another day.

Partly in reflecting on my own life this past week, I have become aware of different types of tiredness we may experience from time to time.

First, obviously, there is physical weariness, which can either come from hard physical labor (or exercise) or, more likely, from not sleeping enough. Some research suggests up to 40% of Americans are severely sleep deprived (and the percentage is higher for high school & college students). If you consistently wake up tired, become sleepy during the day, or fall asleep when you sit down for a few minutes, you probably need to get more sleep. What is the practical impact of not getting enough sleep? You will be less efficient in getting tasks done, you are more at risk for having an accident while driving, your immune system is weakened and you are more likely to become ill.

Secondly, there is emotional tiredness — just not having the emotional energy to do the things you need to. At its more extreme form, this is what we usually call burnout — your emotional gas tank is empty and you “don’t have any more to give”. Here are some common symptoms:

• you are easily irritated
• you work long hours but get less done
• you have difficulty focusing
• you are apathetic about getting things done
• you just generally don’t like your life
• you don’t want to be around people

Emotional tiredness is common after you have been pushing toward completing a big project, and you get it done. The emotional drain is greater when you are done but not pleased with the outcome, or the results weren’t what you were hoping for. Or burnout comes when you have been “giving” (in whatever form) over a long period of time, with more emotional resources going out than are coming in or being replenished. The well is dry and you don’t have anymore to give to anyone, potentially even yourself.

The third type of tiredness I think is important to mention is spiritual tiredness. We are spiritual beings and life is more than our bodies, more than work, and more than relating to others. There is a spiritual side to life that gives us purpose and meaning, and which helps us “make sense” of our lives and the world around us. We become spiritually tired, I think, when we don’t pay attention to the spiritual side of our life and we ignore it. We don’t take time to reflect or ponder; we are not living life with a sense of gratitude. We also become spiritually weary when we lose the sense of how our daily life activities relate to the bigger purpose of our life. We go through the motions of life, but don’t feel connected and have lost of sense of direction.

So what should we do if we are tired?

First, it would be wise to try to discern and identify the type(s) of tiredness you are experiencing.

Second, and this is difficult for those of us who are achievement-oriented (or a bit driven), is to acknowledge and accept that you are tired. It is one thing to generally identify the issue; it is another to accept the reality of one’s tiredness.

Finally, we need to take some actual action steps to deal with the issue. Perseverance is good, but obviously to continue to “keep going” when you are significantly tired can lead to exhaustion (physical, emotional, spiritual), and lots of negative consequences in our lives. Learn how to rest, take a vacation, or do tasks that are restorative.

After working through the weekend last week, and sort of “dragging” myself through this past week, I have had to do some things to help me “rest up” this weekend: I went to the pool and hung out with my wife and daughter; I caught a movie with one of my sons; I went for a couple of runs and a walk in nature; I allowed myself to just sit and enjoy a soccer game on TV; and I hung out with some friends. I almost feel back to “normal” (whatever that is).

As you look toward this holiday weekend, I would encourage you to stop and think beforehand — do you need some rest? what kind? And what would you like to do about it this weekend?

Have a great 4th of July!

Well, I am just back from 2+ weeks on the road — some work related, and some family vacation. And I have been reflecting on different types of “rest” — which is a timely topic, given that most people had a holiday weekend (although I would bet, for many, it wasn’t necessarily restful), and others are looking forward to a summer vacation.

My vacation time included fighting sickness for a good part of it (starting with allergies / cold and turning into a sinus infection with sore throat, bronchial congestion and lots of coughing). And this combination of sickness and vacation led to my thinking about different kinds of rest we need and experience.

Obviously, on a daily level, we rest (or take breaks) as we go through the day and tire from our work and activities. Then at the end of the day, we rest, relax and eventually go to bed — where our night of sleep restores (hopefully) our physical, mental and emotional energy to tackle the tasks of the next day. We do this for five or six days and then have the weekend. And the weekend is supposedly designed to give us one or two days to rest and restore ourselves for the next week.

Unfortunately, many of us keep going at a fast pace (often doing “fun” things) that often wear us down. I am reminded of co-workers earlier in my life who would say they had to come back to work to recuperate from their weekend.

And then there are holidays and vacations. Holidays are typically celebrations that include family and friends, and can be fairly exhausting. Or they provide some extra time to get “caught up” on projects and tasks that we feel behind in.

Historically, for me, I have planned vacations at a full and fast pace — leave as soon as possible, return at the last moment possible and play hard in between. However, this left little margin for getting ready & packing, unpacking and doing laundry, and getting caught up on mail, email, etc. — which led to overload (not only for me, but more so for my wife). Fortunately, I have learned to back off of this some and leave some margin of time and energy on at least one end of the vacation.

What was interesting to me this vacation was the different experience I had as a result of being sick for part of my vacation. Typically, on vacation I let my mind “breathe” — I get away from work tasks, try not to think about work much, don’t do work-related reading, etc. and let my mind freewheel a bit. This seems to be restorative to me.

When we are sick, we usually need to rest as well — to let our body fight whatever infection we have, and regain physical strength drained from fighting the illness. But when I am sick and am resting (usually sleeping or sitting somewhere with a flat-line brainwave), I am not thinking at all. I may be on meds and I am just numb. And it is not restorative in the same way. I don’t feel mentally or emotionally rejuvenated, and my creative thought processes aren’t recharged.

So I was a bit disappointed, feeling somewhat robbed of the mental / emotional / creative rejuvenation I was looking forward to.

In thinking about my experience as a microcosm of what happens in other “organisms” (families, businesses, organizations), I realized that they, too, have different types of rest and restoration that occur.

When a system or organism is generally healthy, rest (vacations, corporate retreats, planning sessions) can help the organism regain strength and focus needed to take on new tasks and challenges. Healthy leadership teams can come away from an annual retreat energized with new creative ideas to take into the marketplace.

But if a group or team is not healthy — it is fighting serious internal problems and challenges, struggling to survive on a day-to-day basis — then the rest takes on a different experience and meaning. Then the time and energy is focused on just getting well. There may be a sense of relief — of taking time and energy to get “caught up” and deal with significant problems. But usually, there isn’t a looking forward to the retreat or planning session because it is problem-focused, not really being restorative or creative (who looks forward to laying in bed all day because you are sick?).

Some implications strike me for businesses, and even families who are planning to get together.

First, take a pulse of your system / organism / organization. Are you generally healthy? Or are you primarily trying to survive because of internal issues or external factors attacking you? If you are more in the sickness mode, then take steps to do what you can to get healthy. Don’t go into an annual retreat, family gathering, or planning session and act like you are going to do long term creative planning. It won’t happen until the more critical issues are addressed.

Second, if your system is doing well, then plan some time for some rest, reflection, and celebration. Don’t push your team to the limit. By planning some time to rejuvenate, you will allow the team members to become stronger, get recharged, and come up with some new creative ideas that will make the system work even better.

Generally, in the U.S., it seems we are frenetic about pursuing pleasure and leisure activities, but we are not great at pursuing restorative rest. This seems to be true at the individual level, within families, and within business as well. Think about it (it takes some free time and mental space to think about it), and see what you come up with.

I have often been asked to speak on managing stress, work & life balance, and similar topics. But I have never been asked to speak about (and I have never seen an article on) rest.

This is one of those postings that clearly comes from my personal experience (and is one of those topics I am giving myself the liberty to write about even though I clearly haven’t integrated the concept fully into my life.) Obviously, the topic arises from my own experience of being tired recently. I have been travelling more than I am used to, and the past few days I just was whipped — physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally. So I began to think about the need to rest. And I realized that there are really several different ways to “rest”.

For many people (myself included at times) the concept of rest translates almost immediately into the idea of sleeping. I am tired. Therefore, I need to sleep. And this is clearly an issue — the number of articles about sleep deprivation in our culture is almost overwhelming, and numbing. Yes, we need to sleep more.

However, resting is a broader concept than sleeping. I have had to learn to let myself just lie down and rest, even though I am not sleepy, or when I can’t sleep. (In earlier days, I would get exceedingly uptight and even angry about not being able to sleep and thus lost the opportunity to rest during this period of time.) So resting can be in the form of lying down and closing your eyes, even if you don’t sleep — or just sitting down and doing nothing.

Besides physical rest, I have become aware of other types of “rest” that I need. For me, mental and emotional rest are also needed. My work is rarely physically demanding but my mind is working hard and many situations I work in require emotional strength and energy as well. Given that I am a stimulation seeking type of person, I sometimes have to “work” at giving my mind a rest — not listening to the radio or music, not doing light reading, not thinking about things (and making lists of tasks to accomplish). Sometimes I just need quiet. Other times I need to do something physical (exercise, taking a walk, doing some yardwork, fishing) that doesn’t require processing words and which distracts me enough that I am not thinking a lot in words.

I need social rest. That is, there are times I need a break from people. I want to be by myself. I don’t want to talk, listen, or interact with another human. This is rare for me, given my social nature, but I do “reach my limit” and go off by myself.

I have become aware of the need for spiritual rest. Sometimes my life is characterized by striving, a lack of peace, wanting to be and do something significant — and these desires can get me “wound up” into either frenetic activity, excessive worrying, or a general irritability. During these times, I need to take some time for a spiritual retreat and gain a more correct perspective on who I really am and my place in the universe.

Besides these different types of rest, I also see how there are different amounts of rest needed — daily, weekly, and longer periods of refreshment (e.g vacations, sabbaticals). This past weekend I was really “spent” and needed a few days of rest — extra sleep, periods of not doing much productive, solitude, recreation (lesiure activities that re-create emotional energy, for me this usually involves nature), and spiritual reflection. After about four days I am “back” and ready to go!

So think about this issue for yourself. How much rest are you getting? What kind of rest do you need? I would encourage you to think about proactive steps and planning you might take in the coming week or two, to get some needed and refreshing rest for yourself. You will probably become more productive overall. You certainly will be more fun to be around. And I would guess that you will enjoy yourself and your life more, too!

Any tree that produces fruit needs nourishment, refreshment, and a time when it is not producing fruit — in order for the tree to remain healthy and for the fruit to be of any value. We are the same.